Three more COC products on NFL teams

One former College of the Canyons football player was selected over the weekend in the NFL Draft and two more were picked up on Monday as NFL free agents.

The New Orleans Saints took former COC offensive lineman Tavon Rooks in the sixth round, 202nd overall, on Saturday out of Kansas State.

He was one of two Santa Clarita Valley products drafted this season, joining Valencia graduate and Minnesota defensive back Brock Vereen, who was selected in the fourth round, 131st overall, by the Chicago Bears earlier on Saturday.

On Monday, two more former COC Cougars signed free agent contracts with NFL teams. It’s typical for teams to sign a handful of undrafted rookie players on the Monday following the draft.

Ex-COC offensive linemen Karim Barton (Philadelphia Eagles) and Will Latu (Kansas City Chiefs) were among the day’s signees.

Latu played two years at COC in 2010 and 2011 before transferring to Abilene Christian, where he played the last two years.

Barton played his 2010 season with COC, and then played three seasons at Morgan State University. This past fall, as a senior, Barton was named to the All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference first team.

As for Rooks, he became the 12th COC player selected in the NFL Draft all time. He played for the Cougars in 2010, Navarro College in Texas in 2011 and played his last two seasons at Kansas State.

All three players will be allowed to spend training camp and preseason with their respective teams. From there, they’ll try to make the final 53-man regular season rosters.

If so, they will join four former COC players currently in the NFL, including Cincinnati Bengals defensive lineman Domata Peko, New York Giants defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul, Oakland Raiders tight end Mychal Rivera and Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman Caylin Hauptmann.